Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has said today that Delhi government is going to pay the striking sanitation workers Rs 493 crore. He said this when he met municipal corporations’ three mayors and commissioners. Reports say that L-G has also asked them to persuade the striking workers to call off their strike. Rahul Gandhi, Vice President of Congress, met the striking workers today in East Delhi and listened to their woes. The workers are angry because they haven’t been paid for the last two months. Gandhi scion assured them that he is there by their side and went on to attack the ongoing centre-Delhi power struggle for the woes of the Delhi’s 12,000 strong sanitation workers. In fact, Delhi High Court asked Delhi Government to release the sanitation workers’ salaries by June 15.

12-Jun-2015Others

Union Government not Pleased with MoS I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore's Statement

Reports say that many senior ministers are not pleased with the chest thumping statements of first time central minister MoS Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore while answering to question related to cross border operations and Pakistan. More than one minister has said that it would have been better if he avoided making such claims because it put Myanmar in a tight spot and the President of the country had to backtrack his statement. Many ministers thought that such statements were avoidable. In a dramatic move, Pakistan Senate has passed a resolution condemning the statement of Rathore on Pakistan and went on to claim that it reflects “hegemonic mindset” of India. Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq said that India’s "crude attempts" are unacceptable. The resolution also read that Pakistan will never allow any kind of cross border operations to be carried on in their land.

12-Jun-2015Science and Technology

Foxconn to build its First iPhone Manufacturing Plant in India

Foxconn Technology has initiated discussions with Indian government to build its first manufacturing unit in India for manufacturing Apple’s iPhone. The move comes as the production cost has reportedly doubled in the last few years in China due to rise in wage rate. Industries Minister of Maharashtra, Subhash Desai, has told media that Foxconn is sending a delegation of officers for selecting location for building their first plant out of the planned 10 to 12 facilities (factories as well as data centres) in India. Reports say that Foxconn wants to build iPhones and other Apple products near the market where they are mainly selling and that’s why they are trying to come up with manufacturing units in India. This will help them drive down cost for competing with Quanta Computer.

Union Minister of Indian Railways, Suresh Prabhu, has given importance to incorporation of alternative energy sources in running railways for checking the ballooning fuel bill with continued increase of freight amount and passengers. Reports say that swelling fuel bill, to the extent of Rs. 30,000 or $4.7 billion, has started hurting Indian Railways’ balance sheet and that’s why the national transporter has started testing trains to run with the help of solar energy. Railways wants to use over 10 per cent of its total energy consumption in terms of renewable energy by 2020. As per the plan, railways wants to run trains with the help of solar-powered lighting through panels mounted on the roofs. Indian railways has already started testing use of solar panels on Rewari-Sitapur passenger train, which is expected to save railway’s exchequer by Rs1.24 lakh per year. For installation it will cost Indian railways Rs 3.9 lakh.

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12-Jun-2015Sports

Indian Shuttler Saina Nehwal Rises to No. 2 in Badminton World Federation Ranking

India’s ace woman shuttler Saina Nehwal has moved one place up to become the World Number 2 badminton player, as per latest Badminton World Federation ranking list. Just a week back she slipped from her World number 1 spot to No. 3. P V Sindhu, a medallist in the Doubles World Championship, has retained her World No. 14 rank. Another ace shuttler of India, Kidambi Srikanth has retained his World No.3 rank in men’s singles. One of the most impressive runs has been from Parupalli Kashyap, who moved up the chart by two positions to No. 10 spot, thereby regaining his position in the top 10 list. His impressive performance against China’s World No.1 Chen Long at Indonesia Open helped him move up the chart. In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa held No.15 rank.

Aam Aadmi Party’s embarrassment doesn’t seem to stop as Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to Somnath Bharti, AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar, on the basis of complaints and charges pressed by Bharti’s wife Lipika Mitra regarding domestic violence and forced abortion. Barkha Shukla Singh, Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women, said that the notice has been served for clarifying the allegations leveled against him by his wife. He has been called to DCW office on 26 June for clarification. Lipika Mitra complained that domestic violence has been a regular phenomenon in the household since 2011, just after a year of marriage in 2010. Reports say that Mitra also filed a domestic violence case against Bharati back in 2011. DCW Chairperson also said that the ex-minister also reportedly threatened to kill his wife.

12-Jun-2015Others

NSA Ajit Doval to Visit Myanmar on 18 June

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is slated to visit Myanmar on 18 June. Reports say that the main focus of this visit will be to identify leaders of the NSCN-Khaplang terror group, who have bases in Myanmar. Though some quarters believe that Doval will cancel the pre-planned tour because of the reports saying many insurgents including a main leader of the insurgent camp fled just hours before the specially trained Indian paratroopers hit the target. Sources say that one of the two camps was totally empty during the early morning strike. Meanwhile, Union government has issued high security alert throughout North East India as Intel reports suggested sneaking in of around 20 insurgents (belonging to NSCN-K, PLA, ULFA, and other groups) into India across Indo-Myanmar border to accomplish revenge attack.

Chief Minister of Delhi and National Convener of Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal, is upset with ex-Delhi Law Minister and AAP leader Jitendra Singh Tomar for misleading him on fake degree issue. Reports say that AAP, on the insistence of Kejriwal, is preparing to expel Tomar from the party. Upping the ante against AAP government, BJP workers today staged protest outside Tomar’s residence and demanded for his suspension from Delhi Assembly itself. Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay, who was leading the protest, also demanded resignation of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for defending Tomar. Reports say that the ex-Delhi Law Minister will now be taken to Bihar’s Munger and Bhagalpur for verifying his law degree and furthering the case. Munger College’s principal reportedly said that Jitendra Singh Tomar indeed passed the three-year LLB exam during 1994-1999 period.

Bête noir of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and ex-JD (U) member Jitan Ram Manjhi has finally announced that his newly floated Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will contest the upcoming Bihar election along with BJP-led NDA. The announcement was made by Manjhi after meeting Amit Shah, National President of BJP, in New Delhi. Reports say that the meeting was also attended by BJP Joint General Secretary (Organisation) Saudan Singh, Bhupendra Yadav (BJP General Secretary in-charge of Bihar), and Dharmendra Pradhan (Union Minister). Jitan Ram Manjhi went on to say that his party will decide how they are going to help BJP in the Bihar Assembly election on June 16. He also vouched to keep the Nitish-Lalu alliance out of power. BJP will take the final decision of inducting Manjhi in NDA after discussing with the Bihar leadership.

A report by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says that during January-March quarter of 2015, India witnessed “strongest growth” among all leading economies including China, Canada, Germany, and the USA. The report says that during the Jan-Mar quarter, Indian economy increased at a rate of 2.1 per cent, which is considerably higher than October-December 2014 quarter’s growth rate of 1.4 per cent. However, the data also showed that overall growth rate of G-20 countries decreased from December 2014 quarter’s 0.8 per cent to March 2015 quarter’s around 0.7 per cent. As per report of Paris-based think tank, contraction of economies was witnessed in case of Canada, USA and Brazil. China’s growth rate during first three months of 2015 was recorded at 1.3 per cent, a slight dip from December quarter’s 1.5 per cent.

12-Jun-2015Business

Mukesh Ambani announces Investment of over Rs Two Lakh Crore in Next One Year by RIL

In the Annual General Meeting (AGM) today Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, has said that the company is all set to invest more than Rs. 2 lakh crore over the coming 12 to 18 months period, whose full benefits can be realised from 2016-17 onwards. During AGM, Ambani also said that they will be beginning commercial operation of the long-awaited Reliance Jio by coming December 2015. It will provide 4G telecom services (using LTE technology in 2300MHz, 1800MHz, and 800MHz bands) to consumers nationally. Mukesh went on to add that they will partner with multiple smartphone handset manufacturers to provide customers with 4G enabled smartphones at a cost below Rs. 4,000. Calling Reliance Jio one of the biggest digital initial initiatives globally, RIL Chairman said that Reliance Jio has a plan of investing Rs. 70,000 crore in telecom business.

12-Jun-2015Business

Finance Minister meets Heads of PSU Banks

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today met heads of PSU banks and discussed a wide array of issues including health of the Indian economy, transmission of RBI’s rate cuts to the borrowers for jacking up economy’s growth rate, problems of higher bad loans, and other associated issues. It is learnt that some Banks have assured Jaitley of passing on the benefits of RBI’s rate cut to the borrowers but few conveyed their inability due to the compulsion of the constrained balance sheet. After meeting the PSU Bank heads, the Finance Minister said that he will favorably look into the demand of PSU banks where they wanted additional capital infusion, more than the amount assured in the 2015-16 Union Budget. In the press meet, Jaitley also said that the banking sector appears to be in a better position after the June 2 repo rate cut.